Blue Alpaca Sweater

In Arequipa, Peru, the Casa del Moral, which houses an art collection and library, draws visitors with its architecture that combines Inca and Spanish colonial influences. Its name comes from the mulberry tree that stands in the courtyard. Artisans in Arequipa adapt some of Casa del Moral’s architectural details into this jacquard-knit baby alpaca sweater in shades of sky blue, smoky gray, and marigold.

In the Andean Altiplano of Peru, artisans have been knitting with soft, lightweight alpaca fiber for centuries. Aymara and Quechua artisans in Peru use an alpaca blend to create a dark brown cardigan with a blue and turquoise pattern of asters flowing from the hem and sleeves. A single bloom graces the back of the sweater. Made entirely on hand looms, the sweater is embellished with hand-knit scalloping at the cuffs and hem, and hand-painted ceramic buttons. Light, soft, easily packable, and wrinkle resistant.

In traditional Aymara textiles, patterns like the ones on this alpaca sweater represented khunu, or snowfall, against the dark night sky. Artisans working in a Bolivian workshop hand-loom this pullover using superfine alpaca yarn in five different colors to represent the stars, sky, and fields on a winter night.

This geometric sweater is a fine example of the 3,500-year-old alpaca wool tradition of the Andes. In La Paz, Aymara artisans work with patterns that have belonged to their culture for millennia. More than 20 shades of superfine alpaca wool blend in a generously sized, cool-weather highland pullover handmade from the most insulating natural material on Earth.

The 26-mile Camino Inca, or Inca Trail, to Machu Picchu passes through small settlements, Inca ruins, cloud forests, and alpine tundra. The colors of this superfine alpaca sweater are inspired by that trek: orange zigzags for the distant mountain views, yellowish green for the stones that pave the trail, blue for the Urubamba River and the Andean sky.

The Guaraní people are an indigenous cultural group who live in Paraguay and parts of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Bolivia. Before European contact, the seminomadic culture didn’t have a written language. The pattern on this lightweight alpaca cardigan is taken from a pictogram for water found on textiles in the Guaraní Museum of Bolivia. The 3/4-sleeve design features a hand-crocheted border and resin buttons.

La Compania church in Cusco, Peru, is one of the most breathtaking examples of colonial baroque architecture in the Americas, and its ornate facade was the inspiration for the fuchsia and magenta patterns on our alpaca wool cardigan. The lightweight and naturally insulating alpaca fiber makes it a perfect layer for cool weather.

The trail to Machu Picchu is lined with smaller Inca ruins, many of which include massive agricultural terraces built with stones. The blue, gray, and brown stripes of our soft alpaca sweater are inspired by this impressive architecture, found at sites like Wiñay Wayna and the recently uncovered Intipata.

The kantuta is the national flower of Peru. It grows in the tropical yunga forests in the eastern valleys of the Andes. Designs inspired by the kantuta cover this soft alpaca-blend cardigan in two shades of denim blue on a black background. Features a high neck with ruching detail and an invisible zipper.

“High-dwelling companions of the puffy white clouds” is how a 1946 National Geographic article describes the alpaca, a domesticated animal that has provided wool to Quechua Indians for thousands of years. Alpaca wool is warm, lightweight, and easily sheds rain and snow, making it an ideal fiber for the windswept Andes. This alpaca-blend cardigan features patterns inspired by the embroidered hems of Peruvian women’s skirts. Single-button closure. Fine-gauge alpaca blend.

This symmetrical floral pattern is inspired by garments worn by the women of the Ayoreo tribe in Bolivia's Amazon basin. Honoring their textile traditions, only the natural and dark alpaca colors in this pattern are knitthe blue highlights are hand-embroidered after the garment is shaped. Full zip front.

In La Paz, Bolivia, two major characters help lead the festivities of Carnaval. Pepito is the trickster, and Ch’uta is an elegant ladies man. Accompanying them both are the Cholita Pacena, the women of La Paz, dressed in glitzed up variations on their traditional bowler hat and broad skirts, topped with a fitted jacket called a chaquetilla. Those decorative chaquetillas are the inspiration for this superfine alpaca cardigan in a range of midnight blues and greys. Features a hidden front zipper.